


A Radio Voice

by JustGalactic



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Gen, and 100 percent me fucking bawling my eyes out but that's besides the point, the Ben/Emily is pretty minor this fic is 99 percent Ben Arnold crying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 15:37:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15754647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustGalactic/pseuds/JustGalactic
Summary: What if nobody had shot those UFOs out of the sky? What if the rainbow lights didn't turn around? What if Sammy Stevens had been stolen from King Falls? What would he leave behind?





	A Radio Voice

"Sammy, turn around right now!" Ben screamed into the phone, tears pooling in his eyes.

"Ben, I... It's so bright... I... Ben!"

"Sammy?! Oh god, Sammy!"

"Ben! B-"

And the line went dead. Sammy's screams sounded so damn similar to Emily's and Ben just couldn't take it. He collapsed to the floor of the stage in tears.

"Ben..." Emily's voice was soft and comforting, but even she couldn't hide her fear. Ben didn't respond. "C'mon, I'll take you to your house." She offered him a hand to help him to his feet, but Ben didn't even look up.

"My car," he said dumbly, barely able to string together a coherent thought.

"I'll ask Troy to bring it, or we can get it tomorrow, it doesn't matter. I just don't think you should be alone tonight." Ben finally looked up at her, and he noticed tears pouring down her face. "I... I don't really want to be alone either."

"The radio show-"

"Can wait," she insisted. "It can wait." She helped him to his feet, and the two of them made their way to her car. It was a silent drive home.

When they got to Ben's house, he sat on the couch, leaning forward and staring at the wall. Emily couldn't tell whether he was deep in thought or just gone.

"Ben, you should get to sl-"

"Sleep?!" He laughed in a broken sort of way. "Emily, my best friend is gone."

"You got me back, you can-"

"I got you back thanks to him," Ben sighed. "He kept me sane, he was always there..." Ben swallowed a sob. "But it was still months of hell, Emily. Months of waiting and sleepless nights and now I have to go through that whole damn thing again, and..." His body was racked with gut wrenching sobs.

Emily sat beside him, an arm around his shoulder.

"We'll get him back, and then-"

"And then what?! And then they'll come after Ron or Mary or Hershel or Cecil or... or Troy... I can't take this again!" Emily just comforted him in silence, unsure what to say.

"Look, we can use that notebook of yours to save him. You know we can."

"Emily," Ben said, so quiet it could've just been a sharp intake of breath. He looked up at her, his entire body shaking. "What if..." He couldn't say it. He couldn't bring himself to say those words. "What if Sammy comes back, and he remembers King Falls, and he remembers you, and Jack, and Troy and... What if he doesn't remember me?"

Emily didn't know how to respond, how to comfort him, and Ben didn't blame her, but she still hated herself for it. She was a librarian, she prided herself on intellect, on always knowing what to do, but now she was utterly lost.

Later that night, with shaking hands, Ben was holding his phone, scrolling endlessly through one text conversation.

Tears splashed onto his phone screen as he read Sammy's texts. Reading them backwards, from most recent to Sammy's first day in town was interesting. He went from tired and scared to determined and bright eyed.

Ben lingered on one small bit of their conversation for hours.

 **Sammy:** C'mon dude. Just go for it. Cronkite. Brokaw. Ben Arnold.

 **Ben:** Doesn't have the same effect over text.

 **Sammy:** Damnit Ben! Fine, just play this then. Play it when you need to get your head back in the game and your feet back on the path.

An audio recording. Ben knew what it said, but he had to hit play. Hearing Sammy's voice made him almost scream, he needed his friend back so damn badly.

Emily stayes with Ben for weeks, neither one wanted to be alone. And always, always, Ben played that damn audio. Even though it made him sob, even though it kept him up at night, he sat there, pressing the play button in the way that a lab rat presses a button for food.

The town chipped in to pay Sammy's rent until he returned. Because he was going to return. Ben had to promise himself that Sammy would return. 

Emily and Ben went to the apartment to clean out any food and trash so it didn't stink up the place while Sammy was gone. They didn't have much work to do. His apartment was practically bare. You couldn't even tell Sammy Stevens lived there. Ben went into his friend's bedroom, but he just couldn't handle seeing Sammy's shirts and pants hanging lifeless in his closet. Ben collapsed onto Sammy's bed, crying. He pulled out his phone and played the audio.  

"How do you turn... Oh, it's recording. I think." Sammy cleared his throat. At least that opener had made Ben almost crack a smile a few times. "Dude, you gotta remember: Cronkite. Brokaw. Ben Arnold. Now go get 'em." There was a second or so of silence. "How do you turn this damn thing o-"

Later, Ben dug into the tapes they still had left in the radio station. He almost always had one of them playing in his house.

Sammy Stevens had a voice for radio. It was warm, comforting, and made you feel like you were home. Ben sometimes let himself imagine that Sammy was right beside him. He practically memorized the tapes, mouthed along with his own words, and soaked up every second of his best friend's voice. Emily and Troy were scared for Ben, but it was obvious that he was using Sammy's voice to stay afloat. Without it, they had a feeling Ben would drown.

Sammy Stevens didn't have much in the way of material possessions. When he was stolen from King Falls, all he left behind was a couple of t-shirts, some tattered jeans, his radio voice, and his broken best friend.

**Author's Note:**

> if u wanna see more of me crying over podcasts, check me out on tumblr @galacticallynonbinary


End file.
